So the human pogo stick, Gerald Green, will be an unrestricted free agent after this season. I'm wondering if the McHale will try to deemphasize him as a result?

My guess is that McHale will be too A) busy with other stuff to notice the TWolves rotation and this team will be too bad for it to matter.

I bring it up though because I'm thinking back two years ago when 20+ games were spent trying to see what we had in Marcus Banks with the end result being nothing. Annoying.

I think it means he spends lots of time at the end of the bench sitting on his pants. (pun intended.)

On a more serious note... it's a shame they didn't pick up his option.

Now, he can go wherever he wants next season. We hold his Bird Rights, but I wonder if we will go after him??? I doubt it. It's like they are treating him as an expiring contract.

It would be a shame to lose him after one season. Sigh.

Overall, I like this move. If Green can't prove he can play, which he hasn't, then you can cut him lose, no strings attached. The team said they were going to rebuild and they're doing that.

I loved the Jefferson agreement because he would have had a max deal on the market next summer. That will save us roughly 13 million over 5 seasons.

They exercised on-the-cheap options on Foye and McCants and they made the necessary moves to make Bassy a qualifying offer if he can prove it on the court.

I'll say it again, I was pumped about acquiring Gerald Green, but he's shown about as much development as Ebi. Either he proves he can play and gets signed somewhere or else he's going on a European vacatoin like the Chevy Chase and the rest of the Griswolds.

TheOldLogo wrote:

What if he can played? Good luck signing him if he breaks out this season. I'm not saying he will but there's most certainly a chance. He should have plenty of opportunities this season.

College Wolf wrote:
The positives of not letting teams do contracts during the NBA season is that it doesn't distract players while they are playing....

What stinks about it is that it makes it almost impossible for a team to sign their own unrestricted free agents. During the season when guys are feeling connected to their teammates they might sign an extension with the team, but once all the players are doing their own thing in the summer it is just the player and his agent and $$$$ is the only thing that matters. It sucks for the fans because we can't develop any attachments to the guy because we know the best case for Green's TWolves time is that he is great and is paid way way more than we'd layout for him.

Do we know what deal the wolves had to give him to pickup his option?

pants wrote:

Yeah, that really does suck. It is quite stupid that you can't re-sign during the season. What's the point of that anyways?!?!

Anyhow, as for his extension... being that he was 4 draft spots lower than McCants in the same draft, his option would have been just slightly lower. So, something around $2.5 Million or so. I think we should have taken it. That's chump change.

I think it means that the Wolves want to see what he can do before they give him money.

I agree that the amount is small time, but I think this move is indirectly (possibly directly?) a reflection on what just happened with Eddie Griffen and cutting down next year's commitments. Teams shouldn't have to struggle to get down to 15 guaranteeds during preseason. Most teams try to keep it at 13 or 14 contracts so they can make a move during the season.

Any way you want evaluate Green, he has not shown much improvement. If someone argues that he hasn't had much of a shot, I would agree. However, from the limited amount of time I have seen him, Green is a minus player in a +/- analysis. With NBA guaranteed contracts, who wants to let this kid float knowing he's going to make 2.5 next year whether he's cut or not?

I don't think the guy is going to get enough PT on this team for him to have a shot at a bust out contract next year, and I don't think any team in the league is giving him a large multi-year deal with the way he's developed so far. I think he's probably the latest in a growing line of super-athletic washouts.

If this guy does develop, I will take all \"I told you so's\" in stride, but I'm going with Gerald Green is a bust.

I didn't word the Eddie Griffen corollary the way I meant to. I don't think Gerald Green has the personal problems Eddie does. What I meant is that we gave Eddie a two-year guaranteed extension for around 2-2.5 million basically to lock up his talent in case he made it. Not only did he not deserve it, but he was a guaranteed contract that took up one of the 15 spots. I think the way this team has been burned, you have to let the player prove it on the court. Gerald Green has talent, but you can't tell this guy he's going to get another 2.5 million next season and give him the chance to develop at the snail rate he's already going.

It's definitely a bit of a gamble on the Wolves part. For a measley 2.5 million, they could have locked him up for another year. If he shows he can play, he'll certainly command a lot more and will be free to go where he wants.

However, on the flip side, if he can't get together this year, then he's not clogging up the roster. Also, let's say he proves himself and can play...

I'm guessing that the Wolves will end up saving a lot of money resigning him next year instead of letting him develop for two more years and then trying to sign him. If he proves himself, he will probably be a markedly better player after the 2008-09 season than he will after this year. You may get him for 20-30 million if he's decent this season, vs. a potential max contract if he pans out and has two years to develop.

I hope he plays well and we sign him. I know he has a lot of talent, but he needs to get it all put together.

TwinsTerritory wrote:

Agreed.

I wish there were simple drills that one could do to increase one's basketball IQ. Some people dribble balls around cones to become better ball handlers... well, we need GMoney to get smarter.

I agree with this. I hope he plays well, too. But he needs the motivation

And I think this is the motivation. From a macro-economic standpoint in the NBA, 2.5 million is measley. As a GM, not only do you have to minimize the cap implications (and 2.5 is not a lot), but you also have to evaluate like this on a micro level:

$2.5 million is still $2.5 million dollars on top of all the expenses paid for NBA players. Giving this kid an extension is like saying he deserves money for not getting better at his job. You can't give a kid like Gerald Green $2.5 million dollars because in the NBA, it's guaranteed money, whether he gets hurt, cut, doesn't try, etc. Not giving Gerald Green an extension is a message to Green that says, \"Hey kid, you're not being offered a de minimus extension by the media-projected worst team in the league.\" It's basically telling the guy to get better or you're not going to be in the NBA at all and/or I hope you've saved your money over the years.

TheOldLogo wrote:
You have a good point.

However, the way I see it is that we would be hedging our bets by picking up his option. Maybe this KID does have some crazy skills? I know for a fact that he's got a sweet shot. With some more seasoning, it's not ridiculous to say that he could score at will. Yes, I know he's a bad denfender and has a low \"bball IQ.\"

With that said, is it such a bad thing to spend the measly $2.5 million now? What if he has a few good games and commands MLE money next summer? How dumb will we look then? I think this \"risk\" of paying him $2.5 million next season if far outweighed by the potential rewards.